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| Numbibia: disappointed Namibia fans on Sunday |
After fielding a team of little known international faces in
the 2-1 quarter-final win over Namibia on Sunday, Igesund remains upbeat as rival
Chipolopolo boss Herve Renard insists: “This is a game we must win, as hosts we
have to get to the final.”
Igesund, talking from Ndola yesterday, told me: “Remember
these boys have never played together before, we’ve put a team together out of
nothing. We only trained together twice before our first match, it’s not been
ideal.
“And Zambia will have SIX of their World Cup qualifying
squad available. I have one. It’s been an interesting situation but the players
have responded well.”
Igesund was forced to re-select his original squad when
Kaizer Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung pulled his double-winning players
out of the team. Orlando Pirates also withdrew their stars and SuperSport
United chose to put their friendly against Manchester City ahead of the nation’s
COSAFA crusade.
In a final blow on Monday after SuperSport’s surprise 2-0
win over English Premier League runners-up City on Sunday, Matsatsantsa
centre-back Bevan Fransman, who was supposed to fly to Zambia on Sunday night,
failed to board his flight.
But Igesund remains upbeat despite the turmoil, saying: “I’ve
got no complaints. These young players showed against Namibia we have depth in
South Africa. We’ll give it all we have.”
ISAAC “SHAKES” KUNGWANE is not a bad man to turn to for the
BIG opinions on the beautiful game as it exists in South Africa – especially when
inside Knowledge is the name of the game.
The bubbling former Kaizer Chiefs star, perhaps the most
animated of the PSL analysts on SuperSport (not to mention one of the better
dancers), believes the much-talked about Knowledge Musona will be under huge
pressure as he returns to the AmaKhosi this year.
The Zimbabwean striker, on loan from Bundesliga club
Hoffenheim for a year, must slot in to a double-winning squad and reproduce the
form he produced as a hungry, young goal-getter in Soweto three years ago.
Shakes points out: “Knowledge Musona was a hungry young
player when he first joined Kaizer Chiefs. He worked very hard, every game. He
made his name. Now here’s the Catch 22 situation. All the Euros he got from
Germany, what happened there honestly speaking? He spent two years at
Hoffenheim and Augsburg and didn’t do that well. That’s a fact.
“It’s not going to be easy for him back in South Africa to a
league he was used to . A lot of pressure’s going to be put on him like when
Bernard Parker came back from Holland.
“Hopefully he’ll score goals but the pressure will be on
Knowledge.”
But surely Orlando Pirates’ own striking signing – Lennox
Bacela from Bloemfontein Celtic – will find things tough too?
Shakes laughs: “He doesn’t have the same scoring record as
Knowledge but he will THRIVE on the service he gets from people like Dane
Klaite, Oupa Manyisa and Andile Jali in Orlando.
“Bacela is an out-and-out striker who gets in the box, he
should get goals. But when coaches play away from home, will he get the
chance?”
Pirates fans know Collins Mbesuma has been struggling,
Takesure Chinyama and Benni McCarthy are gone and Shakes says: “I think it
depends on the system Roger de Sa plays. When he plays away, Pirates will
probably only use one striker in the Champions League. But in the PSL, Mbesuma
is a good holder of the ball, I think I will work with Bacela.
“With a lot of planning – and I understand they will sign
some more players soon – I believe Pirates can go all the way in Africa.
They’re looking at the second star!
And our new champions Kaizer Chiefs next year? “I mean with
Stuart Baxter at the helm, with the kind of football they played in the middle
of last season, I have a lot of hope they can do well in the Champions League
too.”
But Shakes also offers a serious critique of South African
football: “We are a confused nation in terms of our style of play. Our physique
doesn’t allow us to play the German style of football. We have to be a bit of
Spanish, a little bit of Brazilian
“But we’ll never have that in South Africa. Coaches don’t
trust eachother. They don’t sit down and discuss Bafana Bafana’s Under 20s with
Gordon Igesund. We shouldn’t be picking the likes of Shabba and YeYe for the
COSAFA Cup. It’s for youngsters.
“To show that there is something wrong with our football,
you cannot go and watch Wits and Platinum Stars… how many players are going to
turn up and watch there? That’s the state of our football. People get bussed in
to watch the PSL!
“We also have to address the problem of age cheating in our
academies. We should have great development in this country – like Ghana, who
reached the Under 20 World Cup semi-finals in Turkey last week.
“The egos of coaches and people in football in this country,
you talk about SAFA and the elections in September – everybody is looking to
get their own feet in an office in SAFA House. Development takes a back seat.”
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